CITY OF OKLAHOMA — The final search for the remains of Tulsa Massacre of 1921 victims ended with three more sets of gunshot woundsaccording to the researchers.
The three are among 11 remains unearthed during the latest excavations at Oaklawn Cemetery, state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said Friday.
“Two of those shooting victims showed evidence of ammunition from two different weapons,” Stackelbeck said. “The third shooting victim also showed evidence of burning.”
Forensic anthropologist Phoebe Stubblefield, who remains at the scene examining the remains, said one victim suffered bullet and gun wounds, while the second victim was shot with two different calibers.
According to Stackelbeck, investigators are looking for simple wooden coffins because they were described in newspaper articles, death certificates and funeral home records at the time as the type used to bury victims of the massacre.
The excavated remains are then taken to Intermountain Forensics in Salt Lake City for DNA and genealogical testing to identify them.
The search ends just over a month after the first identification of the remains previously exhumed during the search for victims of the massacre were identified as those of World War I veteran CL Daniel of Georgia.
There were no signs of gunshot wounds on Daniel, Stubblefield said at the time, noting that if a bullet doesn’t go through bone and not through the body, such a wound probably wouldn’t be detectable after so many years.
The search is the fourth since Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum the project launched in 2018 and 47 remains have now been excavated.
Bynum, who is not running for re-election, said he hopes the search for victims continues.
“I hope that no matter who the next mayor is, they understand how important it is to see this investigation through to the end,” Bynum said. “It’s all part of the chain of events that is needed to finally find people who were murdered and hidden over a century ago.”
Stackelbeck said investigators are mapping the graves to determine if further searches should be conducted.
“Each year we have built on the previous phase of this investigation. Our cumulative data has confirmed that we are finding individuals who fit the profile of victims of the massacre,” Stackelbeck said.
“We will consider all of that information when we make our recommendations about whether there is a case for additional excavation,” Stackelbeck said.
Brenda Nails-Alford, a descendant of survivors of the massacre and a member of the commission overseeing the search for victims, said she is grateful to Bynum for his efforts to find the victims’ remains.
“I pray that these efforts continue, to bring greater justice and healing to those who were lost and to the families in our community,” Nails-Alford said.
Earlier this month, Bynum and City Councilmember Vanessa Hall-Harper announced a new committee to study various possible reparations for survivors and relatives of the massacre and for the area of North Tulsa where the massacre took place.
The massacre took place in 1921, spread over two days, long suppressed episode of racial violence that destroyed a community known as Black Wall Street and ended with the deaths of as many as 300 black people, thousands of black residents locked up in internment camps run by the National Guard, and more than 1,200 homes, businesses, schools and churches destroyed.